Leine

In the Brooder
Jun 4, 2017
20
7
24
FL, USA
Earlier this year, I found the body of one of my standards in the run. Its (don't remember the gender) neck was completely stripped of feathers, and its chest was hollow (eaten). This happened through the chicken wire.
I know we have raccoons, opossums, coyotes, foxes, etc., but does anyone know what, exactly, killed it?
 
Probably raccoons. They can grab poultry and pull it to the fence to eat it, everything else usually needs to be in the fence to snag a chicken.
 
But wouldn't a raccoon just have pulled its head off? The chicken's neck was still entirely attached, but void of feathers.
 
Coons will eat the chest of a chicken, not interested in the head, a skunk will eat the head. Coons will also kill an entire flock just for fun of killing.
 
I agree that it was a raccoon. Raccoons will sometimes even just eat the crop of a chicken. Really, they will eat whatever they can pull through the fence. The feathers on the neck were probably pulled off either by the coon, or other chickens. Once the hen was dead, the others may have explored around and eaten some feathers. I had it happen in my coop when a hen died during the night. In the morning some of the others had pecked some feathers off.
 

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